One of the most misunderstood, 
twisted and abused doctrines of
Christianity is the subject of authority.

It is a neglected study.
It is an excuse for tyranny.

The church that purports to be of Jesus,
is one which today functions as Apostate Israel:
"each one doing what is right in his own eyes."
True authority as God ordained it, is scarcely to be found.

The Divine Order of authority is clear in scripture.
We don't like it so we build a self-reasoned case against it.
But it stands . . . as an eternal doctrine and
a practical guide to God's will.

Authority is going to outlast us all and in the end,
weigh us in its balance.

Authority is the supreme test of faith and
the fountain of faith as well.
Human authority is the shadow of the Father.
He is the unseen presence behind earth's rulers and
hides His issues within its order.

He knows us entirely and the ancestral iniquity in our bones.
He places us in the boiling crucible of authority where
our flaws will rise to the surface and cry for release.
And the test is whether we will let life's rulers
kill our rot by fire . . .
or flee the flames and keep the disease.

Authority is the supreme test of faith.
Is God God?
Can a human rule me?
ruin me?
God is God . . . and God of gods.

Yes, God can give me into the hands of a brutal controller.
He did so with idolatrous Israel.
He did so with His favorites: Joseph, Daniel, David . . . .
A human CAN rule me, and that, by God's design.

But ruin me? Only "I" can do that.

Copyright © 1999 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick